A Breath from the Veldt 



289 



few have ever been killed in these localities. The wooded banks of the 

 Limpopo were formerly a favourite resort of this game little buck, and even 

 to-day the species is not uncommon away from the regular waggon routes. 

 Still there is no marked difference between bushbucks there and those farther 

 south, and though at one time Roualeyn Gordon Gumming, the well-known 

 hunter, sought to establish this new red species under the name of " Roualeyni," 

 the claim was not considered to hold good. 



As the traveller leaves the Limpopo and advances northward and eastward 

 he will be much struck by the complete change in the soil, grass, trees, and 

 general nature of the country which Mashonaland presents after the thick bush 

 and broken character of Northern Transvaal. This change and the slightly 



KOODOOS GOING THROUGH ACACIA FOREST 



accentuated warmth of the climate may, even at so short a distance north of the 

 great river, have much to do with the slight alteration of coat in the bushbuck, 

 for it is well known how greatly birds and animals are affected by the smallest 

 difference in geological environment. 



The loss of my horse "Jimmy" was not the only disappointment which 

 awaited me on my return. During the journey up country I had worked hard 

 to obtain a good collection of the bustards and francolins of the country I passed 

 through, shooting during the day and preserving the specimens at night. In a 

 letter from Mr. Ogilvie Grant of the British Museum he had urged me to try 

 and make such a collection, and at one time I flattered myself I had done rather 

 well in that way, having filled a large box with about forty specimens. Great 

 then was my chagrin to find on opening the box only a miserable mass of bones 



2 p 



